Trade unions protest against terrorism
Published: 9 April 2003
In March 2003, the three main Italian trade union confederations - Cgil, Cisl and Uil - called a 15-minute nationwide work stoppage and held a joint meeting of their executive committees, to express opposition to terrorism. The unions were responding to the killing of a police officer by the Red Brigades terrorist group.
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In March 2003, the three main Italian trade union confederations - Cgil, Cisl and Uil - called a 15-minute nationwide work stoppage and held a joint meeting of their executive committees, to express opposition to terrorism. The unions were responding to the killing of a police officer by the Red Brigades terrorist group.
On 2 March 2003, during a routine patrol of a railway line, a police officer was killed by the Red Brigades (Brigate Rosse) terrorist group. The three main trade union confederations - the General Confederation of Italian Workers (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro, Cgil), the Italian Confederation of Workers’ Unions (Confederazione Italiana Sindacati Lavoratori, Cisl) and the Union of Italian Workers (Unione Italiana del Lavoro, Uil) - called a 15-minute stoppage in all workplaces during the police officer’s funeral, and held a joint meeting of their national executive committees in Rome, the first such joint meeting of union officials since 1999. At the meeting, the unions expressed opposition to terrorism and were supported by the President of the Republic, Carlo Azelio Ciampi, and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Pier Ferdinando Casini. Mr Casini stated that the trade unions are 'an important factor in cohesion, and have strongly contributed to fighting the strategy of terrorism and violence'.
The trade union confederations believe that the present terrorist movement is not as dangerous as that of the 1970s, because it is isolated and less organised. Nevertheless, it is a problem which must not be underestimated, according to the general secretaries of Cgil, Cisl and Uil. The unions called on public institutions, politicians and the trade union movement not to let the social debate become too harsh or polarised, in order to prevent terrorist groups recruiting new members. 'We must avoid demonising those who don’t share our opinions,' said Savino Pezzotta, the Cisl general secretary.
Sante Marzotto, the general secretary of the Cisl regional organisation in Friuli Venezia Giulia, said that many terrorists and their supporters could be found at workplaces and invited the trade unions to monitor the situation. He stated: 'Terrorists are also in factories and schools. When I say that they are among us, I do not mean that there is collaboration but infiltration. Terrorists take advantage of our contradictions and for this reason we must lower the tones of our polemic and resume unitary action.'
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